Obituary of Helen Louella Saied

Helen Louella (Ricker) Saied was born May 17, 1924 in El Reno, Oklahoma to Glen McGregor and Esther (Marshall) Ricker. She departed this life on January 15, 2016. As a young woman, attending El Reno High School, Helen was known as popular, pretty and talented. She was the soprano soloist for the high school band and other performances. Her senior year, she was unanimously voted Band Queen. After graduation, she attended El Reno Junior College for one year before she married James (Jimmie) G. Saied on February 14, 1943. While he fought overseas in WWII, she sorted rivets (just like Rosie) on the home front. Her first child, James Robert, was born April 8, 1944. In 1946, she and Jimmie bought their first home in Tulsa, in Brookside. November 27, 1947, her second child, Delia Ann, was born. While Jimmie built his business, Saied Music Company, Helen raised their two children and built a lovely home. She was known as a hostess extraordinaire who loved to entertain. She also delighted in her garden, which was chosen to be on the Garden Club of Tulsa’s Annual Garden Tour in 1976. She was active at First United Methodist Church, and was the featured soprano soloist in the choir from 1946 until she “retired” from the choir in 1995. In 1961, the Saieds hosted Oddbjorn Blindheim, a foreign exchange student from Norway. Helen loved him like a son, and the families kept in touch through the years, with visits on both continents. In 1970, she took her exceptional vocal skills to an audition for Theatre Tulsa and landed the role of the Mother Superior in their production of “The Sound of Music”. After his retirement, Jimmie began a second career as a John Phillips Sousa impersonator, and Helen often posed as Sousa’s wife, leading the audience in sing-a-longs. Her greatest joy, however, was in her eleven grandchildren. She often spoke of the years when they were small as the happiest in her life. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother and by her husband of 61 years. Helen is survived by son James Robert (Bob) and his children Kimberly Mooney Koch, David Mooney, Keri Mooney Edwardes, Daniel Mooney and James Dustin Saied, and daughter Delia Ann and husband Dr. Robert Dwight Pierson and their children Cheryl Pierson Danni, David Pierson, Jill Pierson James, Rebecca Pierson, Sarah Pierson, and Jamie Pierson, and numerous great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Services will be held at First United Methodist Church in Tulsa, OK on Tuesday, January 19th at 1:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 2448 E. 81st Street, Suite 3000, Tulsa, OK 74137 or Inverness Village, Benevolent Fund, 3800 W. 71st Street, Tulsa, OK 74132. Ninde Brookside Chapel ninde.com 918-742-5556